


Nightfall

by orphan_account



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Inspired by Music, Multi, Other, Pre-Canon, Recreational Drug Use, References to Depression, Self-Destruction, and jossam, references to climbing class
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22330684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He is at the edge of an abyss. Close to being irrevocably lost.
Relationships: Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley, Chris Hartley/Josh Washington, Emily Davis/Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Emily Davis/Mike Munroe, Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, Sam Giddings/Josh Washington, a little - Relationship, again a little, later on - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Nightfall

**Author's Note:**

> also they live in calgary, ab, canada bc i can :)

# ☾: Suffocation

* * *

The world changed in a heartbeat. His mind was flooding with worry and desperation. Josh pushed through Sam, through Mike and Emily, and Jess to the front door. The raging blizzard outside wasn't the only factor in convincing him not to go out there. Sam was trying to pull at him, saying the cops were coming soon and that the blizzard was too strong. He was drunk, wobbly steps not bothering him as he tried grabbing his coat, house keys. But Sam pulled him back fully, easing him to the floor as he drunkenly sobbed.

The funeral was dull, dim and depressing. People dressed in all black, veils covering the women's faces over their black sunhats. Josh saw Jess, he saw Mike, he saw Emily, he saw Ashley. Matt was looking down, face twisted with guilt. Josh stood far away from them, mind in paranoia because he didn't trust them. It wasn't too long ago that they let Hannah out into a snowstorm, and didn't even look the slightest bit affected. Sam was beside him, sniffling. Chris was on his other side, silent with a firm, saddened frown. The rain poured down, droplets splashing against the dead grass. The empty coffins were placed into the dirt.

Josh decided to go on with college. But he quickly realized that when you constantly feel watched, talked about and stalked, you don't really want to continue on with it anymore. It's his last day before he drops out, sitting in the courtyard with his hood pulled up. The clouds were as sad as him. He couldn't even find the energy to see if there were any faces in the clouds, or shapes. His eyes still lock onto them though, refusing to look anywhere else because every human posed a threat.

Not all of the group were on a college campus. Josh is kinda happy that the 3 that are high school seniors aren't here. He can't look at them, can't talk to them. They probably think he's cold, detached and isolated. Josh saw Sam around campus, unsaid words between them about their relationship that was a few weeks ago. Didn't really last. Josh couldn't get up to call her most of the time, but he tried to reach out through text. It was a connection, a small 'we're together' thing that only lasted two weeks. 

Josh scrunches up, leaned against the table column. A bird flew across the sky, and it seemed like a crow from the distant cawing. The table creaks a moment later, and Josh can't even move his gaze or head to see who it is. But when he realizes, he's not exactly disappointed. It's not someone he hates. It's someone he can't see himself hating.

"Hey." Chris taps the wood of the table. It's silent, Josh doesn't respond with anything. His mouth refuses to open to anyone that isn't his mom and dad or his psychiatrist. He hasn't texted Chris in a while. Mainly because he was too drained to even look at his phone or talk to him in the dorm room. Chris was mostly outside, hanging with some college friends he made. Josh's eyes bore over to him slowly, blinking tiredly and gradual.

He keeps his gaze there until Chris clears his throat. "I.. uh.. wanted to know if you wanted to go get some boba? If you want." he drums his fingers nervously against the back of his knuckle. Josh swallows, mouth dry and it tasted disgusting. He could use some actual flavor. 

"Sure." Josh says. His voice was so slow, dragging out every syllable. It felt like his mouth wouldn't move. His movements matched it as well, going step by step. Chris didn't rush him, keys jingling in his pocket. Josh pulls his hood down, scruffing his hair back, running through the curls. He shoves his hands in his pockets, following Chris out to the campus parking lot. He hasn't been to a boba place in forever. Which is why he calls them 'boba places'. He forgot what they're actually called. 

It was just a tea stop, which would've normally been joyful, cheerful and bubbly. But everything seems so bleak, lifeless. Like all of it was sucked into a black hole over night. And only the bones were left. 

Chris goes to this corner-back table, leaving Josh there as he goes to order the tea. Josh wonders if this is all a lucid dream. It feels like nothing to him. But it should mean something to him, make him feel. He partly blames it on his antidepressants. He hates these things. As if his complaints about them giving him constant headaches weren't enough to convince the doctors that they weren't doing shit to manage his spiraling depression.

When Chris delivers their boba, Josh feels like he should be enjoying himself more. But the world doesn't really show its colors anymore. Josh was only used to the terrible things it had to offer, and maybe this is one of the good things. Though his brain won't register it as that, making this experience grueling. He just wants to see his sisters again.

Chris rubs his shoulder soothingly, a slight squeeze accompanying it. Josh doesn't feel much of anything. He asks Chris to drive him home, boba tea cold in his palm. "Okay." Chris says, and he takes Josh's hand in his own. Josh blamed his coldness on the weather, but Chris's hand was warm, his grip wasn't too tight, loosened a little. 

Life made Josh want to vomit. Because he shouldn't be here. Why were Hannah and Beth taken instead of him? It wouldn't be that much of a loss had it been him that was lost in that snowstorm. Then again, if he had stopped it, if he hadn't been so fucking drunk, and wasted.. Or if he had been a good brother, they would be here. Josh hated seeing their corpses at the end of hallways, coaxing him to come further and that they missed him. Some days he almost fell for it, ignoring their ghoulish appearance.

They weren't the first things that Josh saw, mostly at night, or when he was alone at home. He remembers senior year of high school, seeing blood and guts of his friends. Josh blamed it on his insomnia and sleep-deprivation. But it stuck with him. A lot of it did. It would reappear in his nightmares. Josh tried to let it not affect him, and it's one of the few things he's succeeded at. He's a master at ignoring his problems.

Chris stops at the curb of the Washington gates. Josh unclicks his seatbelt, eyes down and stinging. The blond puts a hand over Josh's, where it sat on the center console. "Call me if you need anything." he presses his lips together firmly. Josh nods.

"Okay." he responds with, mouth trembling a little. Josh climbs out of the car, sipping on the boba as Chris drives away. He walks up to the keypad, punching in the numbers. The gate creaks as it opens. Josh walks to the front double doors, tall and grand. His stomach coiled, feeling so weird because it's just Chris. It wasn't a gore-ridden apparition of him. He was real.

Josh reaches under a potted plant, getting the hidden master key. He enters the empty house. Only his cat greets him, crawling up on his leg. He goes straight to his room. 

* * *

"Have you seen Josh?" Sam walks up to Chris, who was studying in the courtyard. "He's not picking up his phone and I'm worried." she says. Chris shrugs.

"He dropped out like, 2 weeks after... that." Chris replies. "But I haven't heard from him."

Sam sighs. "It's March, Chris. It's been a month since we've talked to him. I'm worried." she taps her fingers nervously against the wood of the table. The clouds were a dull gray, darker near the distant mountains. Chris takes out his phone, typing quickly across the screen. 

"We'll have to wait until he responds. Just give him time. I'm sure he's alright." 

Sam exhales through her nose, opening her eyes at Chris. "I hope so."

**Author's Note:**

> idk where this is going so uh
> 
> this takes place like the whole year of 2014 btw


End file.
